Complementary and Alternative Medicines in Northern Cyprus: Public Awareness, Patterns of Use, and Attitudes.

Background: The utilization of herbal medicine (HM) as a component of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasing worldwide. Little is known about justifications for its use and the factors associated with it. This study gains insights into the use of herbal medicines in Northern Cyprus, concentrating on targets for its use, the role played by disease type, reasons for its use, and sources of information. Methods: A questionnaire was utilized to achieve the aim of the study. The questionnaire was distributed to a random sample comprised of people in two different regions in Northern Cyprus over a 12-week period from August to November 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Moreover, qualitative research explored individuals' decision making regarding CAM, which aimed to examine 20 patients as a context for beliefs, decision making, and dialogue about CAM. After audio-taping and verbatim transcription, the data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results: The findings show that the majority of respondents learned about herbal products (HPs) and CAM from other patients, the Internet, friends, and family. The results indicate that almost half of the respondents were aware of how CAMs, especially herbal preparations, are used to treat common illnesses. Fennel, ginger, and echinacea were the most commonly used HMs, mainly for the treatment of the common cold. Furthermore, nearly 50% of the participants expressed the belief that HMs are safe, have fewer side effects than conventional medicines, and are also effective for treating minor health conditions. The prevalence was strongly associated with education level based on a Pearson Chi-square analysis. Conclusions: Although herbal medicines were mostly used to treat mild to moderate ailments and the participants were aware of their limitations, the combination of self-medication, inexperienced counseling, and lack of awareness of the risks of herbal medicines is potentially harmful. This is particularly important for elderly users, because although they seemed to be more aware of health-related issues, they generally used more medication than younger people. Given our finding that dissatisfaction with modern medicine is the most important reason for the preferred use of herbal medicines, government agencies, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies should be aware of this issue and should aim to create some level of awareness among users.

Education for sustainable tourism development: an exploratory study of key learning factors

Purpose>This study aims to identify the main facilitating factors in learning sustainable tourism development from the perspective of tourism students.Design/methodology/approach>An inductive qualitative approach was applied. Focus group data collection and content analysis were used to gather and interpret the data obtained from tourism students.Findings>Three major problems prevent tourism students from learning;consequently, three solutions emerged to encourage them to learn about sustainable tourism development. The problems are (1) the complexity of the topic, (2) the applicability of the subject and (3) pessimism about the future. The solutions are (1) implementable sustainable approaches/ideas for the future, (2) the learning process needs to combine field observation and creative approaches and (3) digital tools and video material should be integrated with the learning process.Originality/value>The presentation of sustainable tourism development for tourism students has received relatively limited attention in the literature. For Northern Cyprus as a study setting, this study is one of the first attempts to contribute to education for sustainable development and its implementation.

Performance Analysis of the Northern and Southern Banking Sectors on Cyprus Island Under the Covid-19 Era

The coronavirus pandemic still continues and has had negative impacts on all sectors of the world. Besides their aim to protect people’s health and reduce the spread of the virus, governments have been taking measures to keep financial stability and avoid bankruptcies and unemployment. The aim of this study is to investigate the performance of the banking sectors of Northern and Southern Cyprus during the period of the pandemic. They are examined and compared through the CAMEL analysis based on capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings (profitability) and liquidity ratios, which were calculated quarterly for the period 2016–2020. It is found that the effects of the pandemic on banks differed for the two regions, depending on governmental measures and the roles of banks. The Northern banks generated more profits due to the postponements of credits;meanwhile, Southern banks’ interest income was recorded higher compared to their interest expenses. The asset quality of Southern banks weakened because of the high level of non-performing loans (NPLs) recorded after the 2013 crisis. But they are more liquid than those of the Northern banks with the help of European Union (EU) funds. This study gives a set of recommendations on how to improve the financial performance of banks. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Opinions of Teachers on Distance Education Applications in English Language Teaching Policies in Northern Cyprus During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected education institutions just like several other sectors. These institutions, which are among the places where people are found collectively, were the first places that were closed for precaution. Some problems of distance education conducted in online platforms which were assumed upon the termination of face-to-face education emerged in time. Especially in this urgent solution, where the workload of teachers has increased, some application difficulties have been identified in foreign language teaching. From this point of view, considering the foreign language education policy and planning, this study deals with the distance education practices of English teachers, the difficulties they encounter in the process, and their solution proposals. The research, which was designed as a qualitative study, was conducted with a case study design. The participants of the research are 13 English teachers working at the secondary school level in different districts of Northern Cyprus determined by the homogeneous sampling method. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews developed by the researchers. The qualitative data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. As a result of the interviews with the teachers, it has been determined that there are problems related to technology, students, online classes, and planning in English teaching carried out with distance education applications. Accordingly, the teachers offered their recommendations that could be a solution to the existing problems.